The Redskin Report

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By now, everyone who would be interested knows that the Redskins kept all 10 of their draft picks this year.  While most of the rookies are situational players, a few have excelled enough to be significant impact players.  Therefore, it’s appropriate to look back on what we (and the “experts”) said about some of our draft picks, and how they’ve panned out.  I’m going to try to hit all of the players and highlight what was said, but I’m only going to focus on three this time around: Durrant Brooks, Justin Tryon, and Chris Horton, for the obvious reason that they are the ones who’ve made the biggest impact so far on the team.

We’ll start with Durrant Brooks, the Redskins rookie punter. The TRR Draft report is here

QUOTE #1 from TRR (Lee): The Redskins picked a punter with their next selection, Georgia Tech’s Durant Brooks.  Brooks was widely regarded as the best punter in the draft and he has a very good chance to beat out Derrick Frost.

QUOTE #2 from TRR (Bill): Day 2 had three key players (at this time, at least) picked up.  …one is perhaps THIS years Punter (Derrick Frost has competition!)….  All three of them are excellent picks …  Brooks was the best Punter in the NCAA last year, and has the potential to be yet another very big Offensive weapon; if we can’t move the ball, we can pin ‘em deep.  While I’ve heard some folks complaining about how this must mean that the FO has no confidence in our new receivers, I see this as just another way to improve the team.

Other reports (from the “Draft Experts”) are here.   All of these analysis are pretty effusive in their praise of Brooks as the best punter of the draft, though that’s also a bit of faint praise when they point out that he was the only punter taken.

After 4 games, here’s the “conventional wisdom”:  Brooks seems to be finally coming around, and turning into the player we had hoped, having had the best games of his (short) career in his most high pressured game, Washington’s win against Dallas.  Overall, he’s been improving on a nearly game to game basis, and may become a decent punter.  For now, though, his job is the least secure of all the rookies; he was one or two bad games away from being released when he started booming the kicks in Dallas.  If he regresses to the way he played in Week 1, he’ll be gone before the season ends.  If he stays the way he was in Dallas, he could easily be our punter for the next few years.  Regardless, the verdict is still very much out on Brooks, and the effusive praise he garnered by Lee and I and most of the commentators has not yet been fully earned.

Next up is Justin Tryon, a Redskins rookie Nickelback.  The TRR Draft report is here.

QUOTE #1 from TRR (Lee): JT Tryon is a smaller corner and is infinitely confident.  At 5′9, he’s not likely to be anything more than a nickel back, but luckily that is the role the Redskins want him to play.  The major benefit to Tryon is that he’s a senior coming from a major conference, so the adjustment period should be shorter than a lot of the incoming rookies.  Carlos Rogers isn’t expected to be healthy to start the year, so Tryon has a chance to start the year as the nickel-back.

QUOTE #2 from TRR (Bill): We picked up some quality depth, as well.  Tryon has a serious chance of making the team, as does Moore.  Both will be depth, of course, at this point, though Tryon has a chance of being on the field.

None of the “Experts” had much to say about Tryon specifically, though most recognized that the draft was fairly high quality.

After 4 games, the conventional wisdom on Tryon is that he’s a servicable nickel-corner at this time, but not for long periods.  He’s still a rookie, but he shows enough promise to get some playing time.  It can be hoped that he’ll develop into a quality back in time, but he has in no way justified his bravado statements of how the Redskin’s Corner position was his to lose.  But he is on the way to becoming a quality reserve and spot player, both on Defense and Special Teams.

Last for tonight is Chris Horton, the Redskins Rookie “Cobra Safety”, Week 2 Defensive Rookie of the Week, and the Septemeber Defensie Rookie of the Month, with his gaudy 3 Interceptions and 1 fumble recovery.  The TRR Draft report is here.

QUOTE #1 from TRR (Lee): He’ll (Kareem Moore) be battling with Vernon Fox and fellow draftee Christopher Horton for roster spots as safety depth…Christopher Horton was covered above; he’s got a shot at sticking but not much potential to be more than a fill-in type player…The Redskins had a fairly typical day two.  They had the luxury of having extra picks which increases your chances on hitting on some of them…. while the other guys (edit includes Horton) will be battling for special team and depth roles.  I would have liked to seen a few more defensive linemen but I don’t know any of these late round guys, so perhaps there were no decent linemen available.

QUOTE #2 from TRR (Bill): Even our late picks are relatively good; we gave ourselves chances of developing decent depth with these players, unlike last year where we could predict immediately that a number of the players wouldn’t have a chance of being on the team after the final cutdown (or even on the Practice Squad a few days later).  EVERY ONE of these folks has a real chance at sticking in a roster spot or a PSquad spot.  That’s a NICE change.

Obviously neither of us is particularly effusive in our praise of Horton, though we both felt that he would probably do well enough to make the team, though only as a special teams player.  I guess we were wrong about the only bit!

Among the “Experts”, two of them are actually worth pulling the quotes from, NBC Sports and Mel Kiper.

QUOTE #3 from NBC Sports: Late-round defensive backs Chris Horton and Kareem Moore will push Reed Doughty to start at strong safety.

QUOTE #4 from Mel Kiper: Safety Christopher Horton will be a good backup and special teams player.

Considering that Horton was nearly “Mr. Irrelevent” in the draft, and the point that the blurbs of both of them are so small, the fact that they mentioned Horton at all is interesting, and I need to say that I think Mel Kiper had perhaps the best insight into the Redskin’s draft.

The Conventional Wisdom on Chris “WonderRookie” Horton is well known, and is hinted by the accolades the young man has picked up already; he’s definitely in Defensive Rookie of the Year territory, and he’s been in and out of the starting lineup in his first four games; regardless, Greg Blache has created a special package designed to get all three Safeties on the field at once, “Cobra”, which has proven to be one of the most interesting new wrinkles in defense so far.  Horton was a complete steal going with our tenth and final draft pick, a compensation pick in the 7th round.  Some source are even projecting that in hindsight he should have been a top half first round draft pick.  While he did suffer a significant rookie mistake that ended up gifting Dallas with an easy Touchdown last week, his interception of Romo late in the game led to an eventual Washington FG, while his hat trick turnover feet against New Orleans cemented his (early) place in Redskins lore.  It’s still early in this young man’s VERY bright future with our Redskins…. and I, like many, can’t wait to see how many “Whos” Horton can get.